‘Wednesday’ star Jenna Ortega draws ire of striking writers

Hollywood writers protesting for fairer compensation took a dig at ‘Wednesday’ star Jenna Ortega following her contentious remarks about the writing on her Netflix show.

Jenna Ortega has gone on record commenting about the quality of writing on ‘Wednesday’ admitting that she made some changes to her character’s lines.

In the March episode of Armchair Expert podcast Ortega said: “There were times on that set where I almost became unprofessional in a sense, where I just started changing lines. The script supervisor thought that I was like, going with something, and then I would have to sit down with the writers and they would be like, ‘Wait, what happened to this scene?’ And I would have to go through and explain why I couldn’t do certain things.”

The 20-year-old actress went on to say that she really had to dig in her heels for certain alterations to be made to the script.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had to put my foot down on a set in the way that I had to on Wednesday. Everything that she does, everything that I had to play, did not make sense for her character at all. Her being in a love triangle made no sense. There was a line about a dress that she has to wear for a school dance and she said, ‘Oh my God, I love it. Ugh, I can’t believe I said that, I literally hate myself.’ And I had to go, ‘No.’”

Naturally Ortega ended up on a placard and became the subject of tweets by writers in the industry following the incendiary comments. “Jenna Ortega better be back from NY for her afternoon shift on the picket line,” BoJack Horseman writer Nick Adams wrote on Twitter.

Next up was The Bear writer Karen Joseph Adcock, who invited Jenna Ortega to participate in the protest saying: “Rewriting is writing! See you at the line, Jenna.”

Meanwhile Wednesday has been approved for season 2 and Ortega is among actresses being considered for an Emmy nomination for best actress.

Hollywood writers alongside the Writers Guild of America are striking to negotiate better union contracts and compensation as the industry shifts towards streaming platforms.